A man and a woman were killed at a luxury oceanfront resort when police fired into their bungalow after they refused to drop a handgun, authorities said. Police were called Sunday to the Montage Resort and Spa by a security guard who said a man and a woman were engaged in a domestic dispute, said police Sgt. Jason Kravetz. Several subsequent 911 callers said a naked woman was running around the hotel waving a gun, authorities said. Police arrived at the pair's room minutes later, and a gun was passed between the man and the woman, who both pointed it at police, authorities said. Two officers fired into the room after the couple refused to drop the gun. Police searched the room after the shooting and found a loaded semiautomatic handgun and extra ammunition. The deaths were the first homicides in Laguna Beach in nearly four years, Kravetz said. ... http://www.cbsnews.com

A court in Bangladesh has suspended a warrant for the arrest of former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, one day after it had issued the order. Police described the charges, which relate to the deaths of four protesters during a riot last October, as flawed. The warrant describes Ms Hasina as a fugitive. But the military-backed interim government is preventing her from returning home from abroad. Bangladesh is under a state of emergency imposed in January. Police told the court that they needed more time to investigate the case against Sheikh Hasina. A judge ordered the police "to submit a fresh charge after the reinvestigation," a court registrar said, Reuters news agency reports. On Sunday Sheikh Hasina was prevented from boarding a flight home from London after the Dhaka government barred her return....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6583729.stm

India's first commercial rocket has been launched into space. The rocket, a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), took off from the Sriharikota base in southern India at 1530 Indian time (1000 GMT). It is carrying a 352kg Italian satellite which will gather information about the origins of the universe, the AFP news agency reports. India's space programme includes an unmanned mission to the Moon which is due to take place next year. The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that scientists at India's space centre broke out into spontaneous applause as the rocket lifted off into a clear blue sky. He says that India has been working for some time on developing a low-cost launch system which could take on more established players around the world. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6582773.stm

Massachusetts plans to review its prison operations to make sure errors that led to the wrongful confinement of at least 14 inmates — including one who was released four years after his sentence was completed — are not repeated. Public Safety Commissioner Kevin Burke said the state Department of Correction violated its moral and ethical obligations. "None of this is acceptable," Burke said. "There is no reason for any kind of error given the system and the numbers of lawyers who examine these cases." According to a report in the Boston Sunday Globe, the prisons department in some cases failed to modify some sentences for time spent on parole. The department in some cases relied on an inadequate computer system that tracks time served and good behavior credits, or simply botched the math. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/23/national/main2716559.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._2716559

A dramatic pay gap emerges between women and men in America the year after they graduate from college and widens over the ensuing decade, according to research released on Monday. One year out of college, women working full time earn 80 percent of what men earn, according to the study by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, based in Washington D.C. Ten years later, women earn 69 percent as much as men earn, it said. Even as the study accounted for such factors as the number of hours worked, occupations or parenthood, the gap persisted, researchers said. "If a woman and a man make the same choices, will they receive the same pay?" the study asked. "The answer is no. "These unexplained gaps are evidence of discrimination, which remains a serious problem for women in the work force," it said. Specifically, about one-quarter of the pay gap is attributable to gender -- 5 percent one year after graduation and 12 percent 10 years after graduation, it said....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070423/ts_nm/work_dc

U.S. and Iraqi officials on Monday defended construction of a security barrier to separate a Sunni enclave from Shiite areas in Baghdad, while hundreds of protesters took to the streets of the neighborhood to oppose what they called "a big prison."Meanwhile, bombings around Iraq killed at least 46 people and wounded nearly 100, authorities said, including a homicide attack in an Iraqi restaurant just outside the heavily fortified Green Zone. Iraqi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the barrier in Azamiyah was a temporary measure aimed at protecting the population and he noted similar measures had been taken elsewhere in the capital as part of a nearly 10-week-old security operation. "The Baghdad security plan includes setting up temporary and movable barriers," al-Moussawi said. ...http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267780,00.html